“Insurance litigator Andrew Hooker has taken on the case for free, saying while refusing to pay out on a lapsed policy legal, Dishington was “a dead man walking” and the insurer should show some compassion.
“The very thing that led to him not paying the premium was what killed him.”
Victim had paid AMP $70,000 over several years before he became incapacitated.
So change the government to one that doesn’t believe in neoliberalism.that was good until Key and Judge got their hands on it.
The solution again is simple.
Abandon neoliberalism.
“The problem is that the government stopped acting as a government and started acting as a business.”
Thats true enough but there does remain one advantage even so….and thats the government will not declare bankruptcy (or at least not at the drop of a hat) and walk away from any proved liability
So make your mind up. Are you talking about more regulation or are you talking about nationalisation?
You obviously have little time for anybody who challenges what you write. Trolls are like that. That you would suggest that I am a defender of neoliberalism just shows how little attention you actually pay.
Says you. You are of course the voice of reason….and a legend in you’re own mind.
We all defer to your greatness and wonder how in the fuck we can ever be ‘like’ you.
I’m depressed. I WANNA BE LOIK SOLKTA.
I know I am one – that is a little old lady who is shortly to be an ex customer of Public Trust to protect what I hope to be able to leave to my chosen beneficiaries.
If we could renationalise the banks, we would be far less vulnerable to international financial interests.
If you want to know who really runs NZ, follow the money.
And a lot of that money is Chinese.
Paranoia much. The comment was about Chinese (probably black) mobey…. not Chinese (as in people as a race or ethnicity). Could just as easily have been Russian or the proceeds from any other expansionist wannabe Empire
“The government’s ownership of the BNZ, and use of it as its banker, allowed it to become the largest trading bank. It was fully nationalised in 1945.
An 1865 law which established the Post Office Savings Bank also curbed the rights of other savings banks and enabled it to absorb competitors. By the mid-1950s the Post Office Savings Bank controlled around 80% of the personal savings market.”
“The government’s ownership of the BNZ, and use of it as its banker, allowed it to become the largest trading bank. It was fully nationalised in 1945.
An 1865 law which established the Post Office Savings Bank also curbed the rights of other savings banks and enabled it to absorb competitors. By the mid-1950s the Post Office Savings Bank controlled around 80% of the personal savings market.”
The issue is New Zealand’s banks set a sector profit record in 2017, their profits rising 7.35 per cent to $5.1 billion.
Most of those banks are not NZ owned banks any more therefore NZ does not get that profit that we would get if it was owned by a NZ company.
Apparently NZ banks are one of the most profitable in the world!
(Possibly a complete lack of government regulation, such as not even requiring the bank to guarantee cash deposits, have helped us achieve this dubious honour).
The now profitable (mostly Australian owned) banks were sold off by our government for a song in the 1980’s and 1990’s, like Bank of New Zealand, etc….
Which contains the statement –
“A state monopoly can be run at close to cost.”
This applies to more than insurance. It can also be applied to state housing.
It was only National’s cult rigidity that caused it to bring state housing up to market level in stages to make it less noticeable and less of a financial shock to everyone.
Housing could have a base housing cost set at new based on costs. Then the aim should be to recover that cost over many years on an amortised basis, plus an allowance for repairs and maintenance each year, these to be carried out regularly. There is no reason for state housing to be provided free, the people in them may be entitled to government pensions, and out of those they might need rental housing and if it is government housing they would be able to afford it, it might be somewhat cheaper than private, but sufficient for government retrieval of cost plus.
The new style of census seems to have been a disaster. This is what the country is coming to.
I didn’t fill it in. But is sounds like it was designed with extensive consultation from Wellington committees, hence completely out of touch with modern life.
There is a certain irony about worrying about A4 sized mould in a census while not actually understanding the vast amounts of people who don’t even have a home to live in to even be included in the census or even want to be identified, or to calculate the hours of their ‘main’ job when people don’t even have a main job anymore.
ECO MAORIs Kiwi Bank ac 389019048573100 Please help me to sort the nz police out
I decided against trying to use PayPal to receive donations .I decided to copy
Thestandards safe way of appealing and receiving donations I set up a Kiwi Bank AC
So he tangata the people of Aoteraoroa New Zealand who support ECO MAORI can use internet banking to make donations and know that there bank accounts are safe after they have made a donation . ECO MAORI will use the donations to SUE the nz police for all the breaches to mine and my Whano Privacy Rights & Human Rights a lot of people can see this has been happening to ECO MAORI when I win my case I will set up a
Charitable Trust and I will pay the money that I used and any extra donations into this Trust account and appeal to anyone else in Aoteraoroa who need help with finance to SUE the nz police for there in justices I will copy bank statements on this site to let he tangata the people know that ECO MAORI has Honest Honorable and transparent intentions to use your hard earned Putea Money. .
Kia Kaha Ka kite ano
Good morning Corin Dan from Q & A on TV1 I’v had to face up to the silver back effect and buy me some reading glasses lol.
Its assume that good fortune shines down on a Labour lead Governments finances the working common persons Government .
What happened to a Government that was all about the wealthy well you already know the answer to that question Te tangata Te tangata Te tangata treating the people humanly and fairly look after Papatunanuku and all her beautiful creatures and good fortune is what you will receive .
shonky gave the wealthy who did not need more money more money tax cuts and were did that come from well the poor common person he put GST up 2. 1/2 % .
shonkys famous words were I will not put up GST .
Business people you will have to use your initiative and management will have to earn the money and become more productive to support a higher wage like OUR Australian cousins do. Pay more money for the common person and Ladys equally then there is more money for business . Ka kite ano P.S I believe there should be quote rs for ladys in management at 25% Kia kaha Eco maori will still voice his opinion when I see anyone taking us down the wrong path
Here is a industry that would increase OUR gross domestic product by 1 Billion dollars in 3 years it will creat hundreds of jobs for our rual communitys that have had a sharp decline in income in the last 30 years .I have seen this decline with my own eyes .When I was a young man there were Kiwi fruit orchards vineyards all around the East Coast Ngati Purou sheep and Beef farms were all well mantained and employment was a lot higher than it is at the minute.
I can even remember the Helicopter flying Rob Muldoon to Rangitokia or Tiktiki I was on the other side of the Waiapu river at Tikapa this is how much Mana Te Taiwhiti had in those days . This industry will creat income with low impact to the enviroment ka kite ano
This is what happens when one does not learn the culture and does not show respect to that culture the people who are investing in there country lose out big time its time we respected these great people and there culture well thats ECO MAORI view enough said here is a link to Newsroom .
If teaching was a male dominated sector of OUR society they would be payed a lot more here is a link showing the disparities of in come between Ladys and men this has to change as the jobs aren’t easier because someone is a lady if fact its harder for Ladys in male dominated industrys.
Good evening News Hub on TV 3 well I have already written about some of the topics you have covered to night .
The Poverty Bay name change is a topic I would like to write about te tangata will already know my opinion of this the Original name would be nice .
Celebrating the NZ Aotearoa wars will educate all Kiwis about what happened and about OUR Maori culture I hope all Kiwis will be proud of our Maori culture as ECO MAORI is Kia kaha ka kite ano P.S its been a good weekend for our sports ka pai
You have been publishing this a lot recently (and the previous give-a-little and paypal).
How is it going?
Got a lawyer to help you as yet? You know a lot will help on a contingency basis if they think you have a case – which means you wont need the money up front.
I requested paper forms over a week ago (it said it would take upp to a week to get it to me). Still haven’t received it. Sent them a message yesterday.
I will fill it out.
But can see how the many homeless would find it to much hassle to find a way to get access to fill in the form (on or offline).
It’s part of our +rock star+ economy that the MSM and government tells us we have.
If you only ask the right questions and send it to people who feel comfortable in their conservatory with good internet access and reliable postal service, Wellington gets the results they want.
Hi Carolyn, how were the desperate homeless folks’ census statistics gathered in the past? I don’t think foot soldier collectors toured under bridges and parks after dark.
The majority of New Zealanders considered homeless have letterboxes. I believe we are apparently the worst in the OECD because our statistics include people like me when I was living in luxury at my sister’s place.
Of course we need to address our problems but to do so we need an accurate handle on the problem.
This footage from downtown Los Angeles Christmas Day a few months ago.
For the previous census, statsnz did indeed have people taking forms around known sleeping areas. Dunno about the one just been.
I quite liked the qualitative lifestyle questions in this census. Each one individually sounds a bit silly, but if you’re a person in a dwelling with widespread mould, no conservatory, and you have difficulty cleaning yourself (which points to flexibility and activity levels) then that’s a different picture from someone who’s perfectly fine in a clean, dry home with a conservatory or two.
If you can’t clean yourself up, how reliable are your other faculties?
Also I think the problem is, the census won’t be an accurate picture because there are serious issues with how the census itself was run and people either did not know about the changes of arbitrary deciding to get people to go onto the Internet rather than using people going door to door as in previous censuses.
It you count the homeless, couch surfers, illegal immigrants, people who can’t or won’t use a computer, people who didn’t know about it, (easy to do if you seldom use mail and don’t watch TV) and non English speakers then you probably have about 25% of people who won’t complete it.
So it’s not gonna provide any answers that are meaningful to the government.
People and paper would have been better like the old days, but these days it’s easier to pretend that forms mean everybody’s needs and there is a zealous willingness to complete them. (Possibly a Wellington curse).
Cleaning requires joint flexibility and/or physical proportions within a certain range. Next time you sit down on the loo, pretend you can’t bend your back without shards of pain, or that you can’t rotate your shoulder to raise your hand up to 45 degrees. As if you’d had a vehicle injury years ago or arthritis were well-entrenched. And even if someone can’t fill in the forms, there’s provision for the forms to be filled in by caregivers (not that a physical disability comes close to meaning one doesn’t have the “faculties” to fill in a form).
The couch surfers get the forms from the people who own the couch. The homeless are sought out by census workers. As are immigrants. After all that, the results are compared with testing exercises and previous results to calculate the estimated resident population (to account for internal migration on the day and some systemic issues).
If this census does indeed miss 25% of the population compared to the one five years ago, it would stand out like a dog’s bollocks. Most of the organisation was done under the nats, so we’ll see, but I reckon you’ll find that they know what dwellings exist and will be a-knocking on any that haven’t filled in the forms.
Yes, Graeme pointed out an aspect of this new online system that I hadn’t considered. With the paper version they state things like ‘If you answered Yes move on to the next question’. If answering ‘No’ the additional questions were all visible. With the online version, if answering ‘Yes’ we don’t know of the additional questions. I quite like seeing the additional questions but in the name of KISS I can see benefits.
Yes there seemed to be quite a focus on “So what sort of houses are we all living in?” I can see that generating useful stats. Polls and surveys seem to be all over the place and to go forward as best we can, we need to know where we’re at now.
One of the changes with the move online is that the sub-menus and questions are now hidden to unaffected people. In the old days of paper it was all there but you’d be directed to specific sections base on your answer.
One question that had me wondering was the Maori decent one, 3 options yes, no, don’t know. I selected don’t know as I have several people with no past down the tree. I then got directed to a question asking if I knew my iwi. Now that should have been picked up in re-release testing, which brings the whole thing into question. What other errors where in the thing?
Thank-you fior inviting me to quote your entire comment, I may do that in a future Open Mike.
Your continuing failure to acknowledge your misunderstanding of ‘tit for tat’, which was the only justification you offered for your initial misogynistic slur:
“That shows what kind of bitch you [Anne] are.”
is genuinely puzzling.
Maybe the light will dawn if I being responses to your more objectional ‘twits’ with the following:
That shows what kind of a bitch* James is.
*Note I’m using that term only because James has used this term against a person he does not like on this site. It’s called ‘just deserts’.
The remedy is in your hands. I predict that you will continue to maintain that there is nothing wrong with your initial misogynistic attack on Anne.
Yes, I wonder about the wisdom of publically claiming a refusal to complete the census. This from a recent Stuff article…
“If you don’t, here’s what Stats NZ has to say: “After census day, any household who is yet to complete their census forms will be contacted again by letter. … People who choose not to fill out their census forms can be fined between $50 and $500.”
I didn’t fill it in because I didn’t know it was on, I have everything automated and use email mostly to keep in touch, therefore seldom check paper mail and I don’t normally watch TV, let alone adds.
Nothing on Facebook and did not notice any adds on The Standard or Daily Blog for it (2nd and 3rd ranking blogs) which are my NZ blog reads, or the guardian (apparently they have 10% NZ readership) therefore it was a pretty bad effort in my view if the census people were trying to reach an online community that does not watch TV or read right wing propaganda on a regular basis.
Apparently you can still fill it in, but I only noticed that because I saw a TV add as I was fast forwarding about the census.
Personally I can see A LOT of problems with their assumptions.
I’m a native English speaker what did they do for non English speakers in particular ones who don’t want to be identified or are visiting.
The other day I posted a link with some tenants who trashed a house. I really can’t see how people like that are going to be reached by this style of census, can you really see people logging onto the internet and filling it out who are in dire straits or who have major issues going on?
As for going around homeless people, didn’t the John Key government laughably go around a few cars, to do that to determine that homeless people did not want any help?
We have just found that our immigration statistic are based on people signing a form on their intentions on entering the country not actually on actual records of who is really here in this country.
Many people have multiple passports and can apparently be deported and just pop back again for years under a new name. No wonder OZ and the UK are getting tired of all our citizens piggy backing into their countries on NZ passports.
These people live on another planet if you think our government amateur attempts are the way to gather data from a widening group of people who live here.
I didn’t fill it in because I didn’t know it was on
That was a problem. Advertising can only reach those who engage with the advertising medium.
Still, now that you know about it you can ring 0800 CENSUS and organise an access code.
Personally I can see A LOT of problems with their assumptions.
And I can see a lot of problems with your assumptions and they all revolve around your ignorance.
As for going around homeless people, didn’t the John Key government laughably go around a few cars, to do that to determine that homeless people did not want any help?
What’s one got to do with the other? Especially when John was actually lying about it.
The other day I posted a link with some tenants who trashed a house. I really can’t see how people like that are going to be reached by this style of census
I can’t see them being reached by any sort of census. Or do you think that census people should endanger their lives by approaching these people?
These people live on another planet if you think our government amateur attempts are the way to gather data from a widening group of people who live here.
Would you have preferred John Key’s and National’s preferred idea of dropping the census because they watched the populace enough to already have the data?
Please note that doing so is a legal requirement and that not doing so may come with a fine.
But is sounds like it was designed with extensive consultation from Wellington committees, hence completely out of touch with modern life.
Actually, it sounds like you’re talking out your arse. Nearly three million people had filled it out online by the end of the 6th so that would be very much inline with modern life.
There is a certain irony about worrying about A4 sized mould in a census while not actually understanding the vast amounts of people who don’t even have a home to live in to even be included in the census or even want to be identified, or to calculate the hours of their ‘main’ job when people don’t even have a main job anymore.
An A4 sized patch of mould can represent major problems with the house and as we have a housing crisis and houses that are killing people I’d say that it was fairly important.
People who don’t live in houses are being included.
People who put zero hours in their main job are noted as being unemployed. What most people don’t seem to understand is that it’s possible to extrapolate other answers from the data given.
Nearly three million people had filled it out online by the end of the 6th… we have over 4.5 million people here, so roughly a third have not filled it out.
But I sure you are right and it’s considered wildly successful by the bureaucrats having not managed to reach 33% so far.
(Against paper, which was probably a lot more successful).
Change and our reluctance to engage with it gets tougher as we age….The death of Freddie Mercury and John Bonham was the end of decent music. Remember when we repaired electric jugs, irons and taps…ahhhh the good old days.
Nearly three million people had filled it out online by the end of the 6th… we have over 4.5 million people here, so roughly a third have not filled it out.
Which is a lie. Nearly three million people filled it out online but many more had filled it out on paper but they’re going to take a while to come in.
(Against paper, which was probably a lot more successful).
[Citation Needed]
As I said – it’s always taken weeks and months to do the census.
You’re a really good advocate for the census Draco, I like your genuine commitment. The extrapolation of census statistics would do my head in but I could imagine you digging it. Would you entertain a full-time gig there?
I’m not taking the piss here Draco, I like you. I’d like to bounce some ideas off you. If it’s ok with you I wonder if an author here is able to send my log-in email address to you?
I might be barking up a disinterested tree, that’s cool too Draco. I still like you. Bastard.
Well done on gaining a useful qualification. I await the announcement of a Govt job (because private sector bad) with a salary just enough to live on (cos profit bad). Alternatively massive voluntary tax payments. Cos lots of tax good.
He founded it presumably assisted greatly in funding it but I greatly doubt he is CEO and am certain he wouldn’t be head of HR so why are you deciding to piss on him for the faults of middle management type muppets employed by it?
So in this instance – there is zero allegation against Bono, There is nothing showing he was involved in lack of investigations etc. Nothing at all to infer he has done anything wrong at all.
He did however help fund a charity that has done a lot of good and one assumes invested a lot of time and financial support to it in order to help people.
Yet he sums up everything that is wrong with the liberal Elite.
James, you obviously know what Ed is referring to, so stop being an idiot.
Ed, while I think that James’ comments yesterday were ‘casually’ racist, I don’t see what that has to do with the conversations here. You look like you are flaming, so I suggest you pull your head in as well.
Both of you can take this as a moderator warning. If you can’t play nicely I will take you both out of the sandpit for a time. This petty flaming puts other people off and adds nothing to the debates.
As I do you. And I say that given your comments on exploited immigrants who apparently should just learn to ‘move on’ in true H1/H2 pragmatism…after having been bullshiited to by agencies of/or by agencies the NZ state is responsible for.
Munned Stullet….move on man, cut your losses…. stop pushing shit uphill.
Forget the lifetime of earnings you’ve attained…
Nah man…you’re fault you were conned by NZ govt agency approved consiltants….move on….start again ya lazy munter.
Actually @SM, i used to take you at face value till I realised….fill in the rest for yourself
Yet he sums up everything that is wrong with the liberal Elite.
It is. If we didn’t have the rich, and that includes Bono, then we wouldn’t have need of charities to address the problems that the rich create by their simple existence.
‘Bono (and his charity One) earned kudos for insisting countries, corporations and people pay taxes in pursuit of a fairer society. In 2011, Bono, 57, who, according to CNN has an estimated net worth of $590 million, further angered his countrymen when he espoused the values of Ireland’s 12.5 percent corporate tax breaks. He went on the record to claim that these breaks for multi-billion dollar companies had brought Ireland the “only prosperity we’ve ever known.” He had a point, but as the locals noted, Bono wasn’t even giving the country a meager 12.5 percent any longer.’
More evidence of the duplicitous U2 lead singer.
The Irish hate him.
Because he is a tax dodger.
‘But to huge sections of the Irish population, Bono is about as welcome as cold sores and spam email. How can that be?’
‘it’s another issue that really dogs the band: their tax arrangements. In 2006, U2 moved part of their business to the Netherlands, where the tax rate on royalty earnings is more favourable for artists. When you operate on U2’s financial scale, this is a major detail. Ireland was scalded by the global 2008 financial crash; communities were eroded by austerity, while the band’s reputation as “tax dodgers” persisted. As People Before Profit party TD Bríd Smith says: “Bono is seen as part of that cohort of very wealthy people who avoid paying tax in this country but enjoy the fruits of being of this country.”
Interesting speech from Jeremy Corbyn to Scottish Labour. Starting off with a reference to the Spanish Civil War(!) and using terms like comrade to address the audience, and socialism to describe the party.
The themes of ending austerity, national renewal, a genuine economic alternative and hope for a better society in the future are what appeals to youth.
At 11:30 he starts to talk about Brexit and makes some interesting comments. Labour seems to have accepted Brexit – I don’t think Corbyn was really ever that keen on the United States of Neoliberal Europe anyway – and is seeking to paint the Tories as using Brexit for an exercise in disaster capitalism.
I don’t fancy his chances on getting a decent new customs union deal and retaining the single market with the EU. The idea Britain can regulate the importation of cheap Labour and remain in the customs union and single market seems fanciful to me. I don’t think Corbyn has yet grasped the nature of the European antipathy to the UK.
The EU bureaucracies response to Brexit so far has been arrogant, high handed and rigid. Talking to Europeans in Holland, Spain, Germany and France the public are kinda over the British hating on the EU anyway, and are sad the Brits leaving but over the moaning from them when they were in. The EU technocrats have got nothing to gain in cutting the British a good deal and a lot to lose if they make leaving the march to a centralised, technocrat run Europe look like a viable alternative.
Corbyn’s EU policy hinges on his promise of getting a good deal for Britain. Time will tell! But I support the idea of Britain leaving the EU if the EU will not allow the UK Labour party to carry out socialist reforms.
The EU has already shown it’s dedication to, keeping the power of banks, opposing Labour rights and community Democracy, and the ruthless bankrupting of any country that does not carry out Neo-liberal “reforms”.
The EU’s biggest problem with Britain leaving, is the population of other EU countries seeing what can happen when Socialist “Democracy” returns to Britain, under Corbyn.
Sanctuary it was Dundee’s large contribution of fighters to the Spanish Civil War that he was referring to, because he was speaking in Dundee.
And he kept referring to ‘our movement’ And he praised Ann somebody who got 70% of some vote, and that she was only the second woman to become Rector of some university. I think he was touching base with all the things that Labour Dundee had to be proud of.
I haven’t got time to listen to it properly and indeed i can’t hear clearly even though I have my sound options open fully – my hearing usually pretty good. So thanks for making this available. Others will no doubt get a lot from it.
Christianson, a tourist information adviser in the northern city of Akureyri, says Icelanders are becoming increasingly frustrated with having to queue, slow traffic on the ring road that circles the main island, and hearing English rather than Icelandic everywhere they go.
More worryingly, the millions of pairs of feet trampling on areas of natural beauty is unsustainable, while infrastructure is under intense pressure. Sound familiar?
Sutton was one of the keen devotees of Roger Douglas et al – (Roger Douglas, Michael Bassett, Mike Moore and David Lange were Labour Party politicians instrumental in the overthrow of their leader Bill Rowling …) – who went on to introduce us to the dreadful neoiberal, free market that has cost us so much.
Trotter’s essay quotes David Lange, who tried to withdraw from the Gang of Four, actually throwing out Roger which was disputed and reversed by his colleagues. David referred to Bill Sutton needing a brain transplant but that a compatible rabbit couldn’t be found. Trotter calls that a ‘vicious joke’. I think it was a well-deserved jab, and he might well have referred to a ‘compatible rat’.
Sutton is a scientist, and latterly a senior policy analyst for about 11 years. He must be suffering from what many scientists (and also many academics) fall prey to, a profound belief in the superiority of his mind and training and the rightness of his own decisions.
(Sutton has a PhD in biochemistry (Massey University) and worked as a research scientist from 1969 to 1984. After retiring from politics he worked as a senior policy analyst from 1996 to 2007.) Thanks wikipedia
Now the Ashurst bypass, first promised to be finished by March 2018 hasn’t even started and is merely drifting ever further into the future.
Is there anything, apart from taking lots and lots of selfies with primary school kids that our current lot of no-hopers has managed?
Well, if you need the land you can use the Public Works Act, or whatever it might be called these days. That is what is normally done in these circumstances and previous Labour Governments certainly weren’t phased by the idea.
That is of course what you would have to do if you decided to use the new railways of course for transport but I’m sure you know that. I think it is a great deal more likely that the NZTA have been told not to do anything as the current lot of bunnies in the Government can’t find any money.
As for using ships. There is a port at Wellington and another one at Napier of course but I’m not really sure that is the answer to transport between the Wairarapa or Southern Hawke’s Bay and the Manawatu.
I’m afraid you cannot blame the previous National Government for things that the present Government are delaying. Good try but no cigar.
I’m loving the right wing attack lines, “labour are not delivering”.
As it stands, we have a civil service who are no longer servants of the public, but ideology and preserving the status quo. Labour, NZ1st and the Greens can’t do anything until this pile of crap national left them with is fixed.
But that’s what works Alwyn. Selfies with school kids and endangered species gets us a Green/Labour govt next time round. We’re living a country where the most popular show on TV is Shortland Street.
“Hey Mr Polluter, this is how much you’re getting for the farm that’s been in your family for 7 generations, to hell with your skyrocket valuation. Grab your BBQ and Hi Lux and piss off.”…….Not so much, msm suicide.
“Selfies with school kids and endangered species”. Well that part is correct although the rest of the sentence is unlikely to be true.
The endangered species in this is the Green Party, after all. They aren’t likely to survive the next election. I don’t think they will be missed. When you consider the stuff-up their leader has overseen in the Census (under 3 million people recorded) and one of the candidates for the XX chromosome spot is of for a fortnights holiday in New York their work ethic doesn’t really impress.
Alwyn, the quality of your comments is declining 🙁
When you consider the stuff-up their leader has overseen in the Census (under 3 million people recorded) and one of the candidates for the XX chromosome spot is of for a fortnights holiday in New York their work ethic doesn’t really impress.
I fail to see how you can possibly claim that the quality of my comments is declining. The links you include confirm precisely what I said, don’t they?
I said.
1. “Under 3 million people recorded”. Your link says that the total is nearing 3 million. Perfect score I would say.
2. “Genter is off for a fortnights holiday in New York”. Your link says she is off to attend a session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. She left on the 10th. The session lasts from the 12th to the 23rd. I suppose you could say that t is only for 12 days, not a fortnight but I’ll bet she is away for more than 14 days. http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw62-2018
Spot on for accuracy
That looks like a 100% record to me. Do you ever get close to that?
That looks like a 100% record to me. Do you ever get close to that?
No, never, my PB is 97% (but that was some time ago) so your 100% hit rate is very impressive indeed.
However, I don’t want to burst your well-deserved jubilant and celebratory mood (i.e. your bubble), I really don’t, but you do realise that so far 3 million people have taken part online, don’t you?
At the end of the collection process, Stats NZ is aiming for 70 percent of households to have taken part online. [again, my emphasis]
But I agree that this amounts to a major “stuff-up” on behalf of the responsible Minister, James Shaw, and he has no choice but to hand in his resignation to the PM.
It is just not on that Julie Anne Genter goes to New York for at least (!) a whole fortnight for a meeting of only 12 days, all expenses paid for no doubt, and then does SFA. I double your bet that after that meeting she will be in full holiday mode and will have nothing else on her agenda. What’s worse, she might even rest her feet on a table with the excuse that she’s pregnant!! How long will she be away for again? Heads should roll for this crime to the NZ Taxpayer.
It is good that there are still honest people holding this Government to account and in particular that CS faction who call themselves the Green Party – those water melons can never be trusted near power or with NZ Taxpayers money, that’s for sure.
And I do apologise; your latest comment was of the superior quality that we have come to relish here. I mean, you cannot argue with 100% accuracy, can you?
Wow!
You must have been drinking something very potent.
On the other hand I think your comment even exceeds mine in its flamboyance, and I was trying very hard.
You win. Your comment is funnier than mine.
Alwyn, are you complaining that the Labour/NZ First government have not confiscated the required land to speed up construction?
From the linked article it sounds like the delays are caused by NZTA negotiating in good faith to acquire the land.
Do you have any inside knowledge of the situation?
And what does this bypass have to do with promises made about the new road? AFAIK work/planning on the new road has not been delayed.
See my comment to DTB about how you can obtain needed land. It isn’t “confiscation”. You have to pay a fair price and in practice it is the only way that any roads, or railways, can be built.
As far as the new road is concerned the best we are being promised is that we might hear about options by the end of March. “might”.
Hardly what Little was saying last year is it?
“It will be built as quickly as possible, using the powers available to the Government to speed up consenting and planning, and ensuring funding is immediately available.”
My understanding is that compulsory acquisition via the public works act is usually a last resort. Otherwise why is NZTA currently negotiating rather than acquiring?
So you agree that there were no pre election promises regarding the delayed Ashhurst bypass?
Regarding the new road, I have not seen any evidence that that work/planning has been delayed, or that the government is not using all powers available to them. Can you provide any?
It is nothing short of astonishing that the man who aggressively countered his government’s critics with the assertion, “There is no alternative!”, is unable to connect the dots between an economic and political system which insists that it represents the terminus of history, and these rising levels of political disillusionment and despair. If this, the neoliberal world order, is as good as it gets; and if all the truly meaningful decision-making powers have been taken out of the hands of politicians; then what, in God’s name, is the point of casting a vote?
It is time we took our power back away from the institutions that are designed to keep capitalism going despite it’s obvious failure to provide our society with what it needs.
This disgraceful incident should never have been allowed to occur in the first place …
Woman breaks leg at Middlemore hospital after having epidural for birth! Despite complaining of numbness in her right leg after the birth and having mobility difficulties, the new mother was forced to walk by the duty staff nurse. She fell, causing her right leg to collapse under her, fracturing her tibia!
The resulting bullshit and spin used by the hospital department management/hierarchy is incredibly mind boggling! What’s the matter with using plain simple language, while also acknowledging the accident was the responsibility of the duty nurse and the hospital, something which is blatantly obvious?
It will be interesting to see who is held accountable for this woman’s preventable accident while still in the care of the hospital!
They will blame the midwife if there is enough fuss. Never the hospital because it’s standard practise to require you to leave within a few hours of giving birth naturally and within 24 hours of a Caesarean. (At least that was what our family was told).
In the old days people stayed for 7 days in a maternity hospital and were taught how to care for the baby and had meals etc provided so you could concentrate on getting well and bonding.
Now to save the government money you bundle your newborn into a carseat within hours and have to go else where.
Possibly that explains our abuse statistics, it’s not exactly a good start for a baby and a Mother or family.
Also unless you went private you would be hard pressed to see a obstetrician in the leadup and during the birth of a baby.
After a few days in a birth centre if you choose to go to one, the after care goes to the charity Plunket because the government does not provide any or see the need to provide any government run after birth care.
Or as my Doctor would put it.
“You must remember that life is a terminal disease”
My Mother would have been more succinct
“Nobody gets out of here alive”
Theres a different between part funding a charity which needs to fund raise and accept donations from corporates than a fully funding NZ maternity aftercare service that is focused 100% on the job at hand (not fundraising).
I’d say the neoliberal business model of maternity care is NOT working if you look at the abuse statistics of this county and our poor efforts for children’s care and wellbeing and our dropping ranking is the world on this.
Our birth stats are going down. We aren’t a land of milk and honey and a good place to bring up children any more, except to people who can afford to buy what they need to compensate for NZ basic care, or come from somewhere really crowded, or have been in poverty or a refugee camp.
There were 1,608 fewer births and 429 fewer deaths compared with 2015.
The total fertility rate dropped to a low of 1.87 births per woman, compared with an annual average of about 2.02 from 1980–2015.
The infant mortality rate was 3.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.
(Between 1980 and 1986 we seemed to be below the natural increase, and are beginning to show now a similar trend.)
When I had my kids in the early 80’s I was allowed to stay in the maternity ward for 5 days.
For me, it was crucial, because I got the help that I needed to establish breast-feeding. (Not necessarily an easy or straightforward process.
Sadly several women there switched to bottles because they simply didn’t get the necessary help and advice.
There are many reasons for early mobization post anaesthesia, chiefly prevention of thrombsis, if this woman had died of a pulmonary embolism because she was not encouraged to mobilise it would be the health professional still at fault. In the not too distant past women were bed ridden for days post partum and the died of preventable causes, so whats one broken leg compared to the lives saved.
Oh sounds a bit regimented. What is appropriate for this patient at this particular time. Don’t want people afraid of nurses and hospitals do we, no Nurse Ratched stuff.
I take on board your comparison with life threatening DVTs. However, it is definitely not satisfactory for a new mother to suffer a fractured leg immediate post partum, through staff failure to recognise a problem existed after receiving epidural anaesthesia. This is something which could have been avoided had the nurse been doing her job as an observant, caring health professional. Negligence is not conducive towards a good start for the new mother or her baby.
During the time I had my two children, it was mandatory for new mothers to rest up, bond with baby and establish good feeding patterns in the maternity hospital, usually for about a week or thereabouts. Most of us mothers were encouraged to move around, at a level that was comfortable for us, but not forced if mobility caused pain or difficulties. Also during that post natal period, the hospital physiotherapist visited, giving appropriate exercise programmes to assist mobility, as well as to prevent DVTs from forming. This system worked quite well for most new mothers and their babies.
Seems these days good, positive, as well as respectful maternity care is non existent. More the pity!
I’d like to see ACC expanded to include sickness – basically turn it into income protection insurance for illness and injury. This could partly be funded by removing the requirement to provide sick leave, and levying employers more on the savings. Any thoughts?
Sick leave can be utilised for other than the worker’s own sickness, no matter what the company allows or is told. It is a safety net for families, though may not be used because of harsh necessity and resentment by the business against those not collapsing at work. My sister was a teacher, very devoted and hard working, and the management of her school were a bit snippy when she needed time off. Don’t think of cutting sick leave is my thought.
Craig H
You are so trusting. The ACC rules can be changed, subverted etc. They already are a different beast than when they were started. The things they do to the needy people on their books, and the ones the reject, are not good reading. I think they are reducing costs by putting people’s applications through a computerised system, ie being sorted by robot brains. Some of the humans weren’t so good because the government set pet medical doctors onto them to decide whether they could come in without being bitten, or have to endure a fight. Don’t think ACC is some reliably good organisation to help the community. I think they are something useful because their reserves look good on a balance sheet for the country so we can keep a low interest rate on our borrowing, so we can have some money circulating like a real economy.
The Holidays Act can be changed too if the government of the day decides to. Provided the ACC Act sets the entitlements into legislation rather than regulations, it’s as safe (or not) as any other legislative entitlement.
Too much power in one hands can create misery. Don’t think you quite understand how our government slowly has unwound, and sometimes quickly, legislative entitlements. Sorry to burst your bubble.
The point wasn’t to see how many cars could be crushed it was to stop the cars being in such way they would be crushed
The yobs cut way down on what they were doing so Jude scored a major win on that point
And shes number 4 with a portfolio that will see her get media attention so any faltering in the polls and Jude can lead National to the promised land so its a win-win-win situation all round (except for Twyford and Labour of course)
The Government, and it’s Minister, Phil Twyford what to build shitloads of houses.. Lots of New Zealanders want shitloads of houses built, fast. The National Party, and it’s aspiring leader, Judith Collins want to stop them doing this.
I’m terribly sorry ED I never realised you were hard of hearing.
This is an interview about the very important rights of animals. Ali G invited animal rights ambassadors to talk with him about how we should treat animals. The guests did their best to explain why it is wrong to perform experiments on animals at home, an important question that was asked was –
“Would you eat a chicken if another chicken would die if you said no!”
Terribly sorry Stunned Mullet but you have been coming on TS long enough to know that we like to have some information about what is going on in your brain, what point it wants to make about what the video contains so we know whether we want to watch it. Is it going to be fun, or informative, or like something that happens in NZ that is worthy of notice etc.
What gets me is not just what Keating says, but the conditions that underpin it. It seems as if the “professional politicians” that replaced the old representative ones are inhibited from meaningfully engaging in realpolitik, due to their subservience to corporate and financial interests. The fact is, the whole world did not magically transform into dedicated adherents to the so-called Washington Consensus, and their response has been limited to bullying and cajoling those who have not succumbed: “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen”, they seem to think. Keating refers to this approach as a “lack of strategy” and praises Trump for at least trying.
The last two sentences: Mr Keating said Russia had the power to “obliterate” the US, and urged Mr Trump to maintain a workable relationship with the Kremlin.
“Russia alone has the capacity to obliterate the United States. If you’re a country that lives under the threat of obliteration, you generally should have a policy.”
I wonder if we should campaign to oust David Parker for signing the TPP. He hasn’t kept his promises. It isn’t in the public interest. And most importantly it won’t bring down the coalition. But it will make them think long and hard before shafting New Zealand again.
The President went to Pennsylvania, singled out a black Congresswoman from California, and called her stupid. That’s not race-baiting. That’s racist.— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) March 11, 2018
Two weeks in a row. Apparently the president calling a black Congresswoman “low IQ” is part of the stump speech now.— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) March 11, 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested Jews and other minorities in Russia, including Tatars and Ukranians, could be to blame for meddling in the US presidential election.
“Maybe they’re not even Russians,” he told NBC News. “Maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked.”
Perhaps tRump has no intention of being voted out.
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts state secretary William Galvin is strongly opposing President Donald Trump’s proposal to dispatch Secret Service agents to polling places during federal elections.
A provision of the Homeland Security reauthorization bill would allow armed Secret Service agents to enter polling locations at the direction of the President. Galvin says he is “horrified that this is even under consideration.”
TS …. something in recent times you come to love to hate.
The commenters with such a love of their own arseholes and self-adjuged intelligence. The egos. The dried up old public servants trying to remain relevant as contributors (probably … i was going to mention Paekakariki or Browns Bay …. best not go there or it’ll provoke an Ad-like epistle justifying ilk and neo-lib, or at least neo-lib-lite ideology).
An ability to sympathise rather than empathise….there goes the progressive Chardonnay TVNZ7 leftie.
Time is running out though folks. The game is up…. which is why NZ elected a change. Hopefully the MMP govts participants may soon come to realise what put them there, and why, and what is expected of them.
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of ...
Ruby Porterlooks into New Zealand’s future when the sea level rises 10, 25 and 80 metres, and finds out how much of Auckland will be left.I grew up in Ponsonby, but the only bay I knew around here was Cox’s. It’s fed by a creek which was once a mahinga ...
Opening up a skid pad, create more housing for single people and make the central city dog friendly: policies from Christchurch's lesser-known mayoral candidates. ...
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...
Covering Climate Now:Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we go crazy for crickets in a climate week special.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. ...
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married ...
Dr Bryce Edwards“Diversity” is a central theme of the current local government elections – with the common criticism that incumbent politicians are generally too “stale, male, and pale” (or variations on that). Numerous commentators and candidates have lamented the lack of women, ethnic minorities, and youth in local government. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Climate change, environment Paul Gorman (Stuff): How would you spend an unlimited war chest for ...
A review into the Ministry for Culture and Heritage will look into the relationship between a staffer and the external developer responsible for a massive data breach. ...
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)Obvs. (Read our review by Pip Adam here)2 Three ...
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites.We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears ...
Auckland rapper JessB has just released a new EP and wraps up a national mini-tour tonight in her home town. Jogai Bhatt talked to her about her world travels, performing at Ihumātao, and how her community and her music intersect.It’s only been two years since JessB entered the public radar ...
A new poem by Waiheke poet Rata Gordon.PacingA deep bow to NerudaIt so happens I am sick of being a woman. It happens that I walk into BP stations and supermarkets greasy, swollen, like a cow made of soap, losing my way in a field of placentas and pesticides.The smell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Gardiner, Lecturer, Edith Cowan University In August, a 24-year-old woman appeared before the Western Australian District Court after pleading guilty to concealing the birth of her newborn baby in 2018. The charge of concealment of birth refers to hiding the dead ...
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...
Sydney shock-jock Alan Jones has written to Jacinda Ardern saying he didn't intend any violence towards her when he said on air that Australia's Prime Minister should "shove a sock down [her] throat". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Allen, Senior Lecturer in Public Management, Victoria University of Wellington This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. For three years in a row, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Thousands of school students across Australia are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin., Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Newstart recipients and other Australians on benefits get their half-yearly pay rise today (and also on March 20). This one is vanishingly small. Announced very quietly by Social Services Minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney The budget was for practical purposes in neither deficit nor in surplus in 2018-19, the final figures released by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Thursday reveal. The underlying cash deficit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...
Open Mike 11/03/2018 
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...1 day ago
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...1 day ago
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...2 days ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...2 days ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...2 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...2 days ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...2 days ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...3 days ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...3 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...3 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...4 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...4 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...4 days ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...6 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...6 days ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...6 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...7 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...1 week ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...1 week ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...1 week ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...2 weeks ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 2 weeks ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...2 weeks ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...2 weeks ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...2 weeks ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...2 weeks ago
On Newshub Nation: Simon Shepherd Interviews The New Zealand Initiative's Executive Director Oliver Hartwich ...20 hours ago
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of ...55 mins ago
Ruby Porter looks into New Zealand’s future when the sea level rises 10, 25 and 80 metres, and finds out how much of Auckland will be left.I grew up in Ponsonby, but the only bay I knew around here was Cox’s. It’s fed by a creek which was once a mahinga ...2 hours ago
Opening up a skid pad, create more housing for single people and make the central city dog friendly: policies from Christchurch's lesser-known mayoral candidates. ...8 hours ago
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...18 hours ago
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...22 hours ago
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...23 hours ago
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...1 day ago
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...1 day ago
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...1 day ago
To tackle the crises of climate and unsustainability we need great cultural changes in civil society, business and politics. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d ...2 days ago
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...2 days ago
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...2 days ago
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...2 days ago
A congestion charge is needed to deter motorists from clogging central city districts at peak times, according to an economics consultancy. ...2 days ago
Jacinda Ardern confuses Japan with China - and she's not the only one with a case of political foot-in-mouth. ...2 days ago
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...2 days ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...2 days ago
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kyllie Cripps, Scientia Felllow and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law UNSW Sydney, UNSW In Western Australia more than half the children placed in state care are Aboriginal. The state government committed this month to reducing this over-representation, in a move that parallels ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin., Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Newstart recipients and other Australians on benefits get their half-yearly pay rise today (and also on March 20). This one is vanishingly small. Announced very quietly by Social Services Minister ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...2 days ago
AMP refuses to pay up.
“Insurance litigator Andrew Hooker has taken on the case for free, saying while refusing to pay out on a lapsed policy legal, Dishington was “a dead man walking” and the insurer should show some compassion.
“The very thing that led to him not paying the premium was what killed him.”
Victim had paid AMP $70,000 over several years before he became incapacitated.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12008859
The government should boot out parasitical private insurers and take over business themselves.
Yes, the gummint should immediately nationalise all insurance companies, along with banks and law firms.
the governments insurance record is nothing to rely upon…..I submit EQC and Southern Response
A.C.C.
that too
So change the government to one that doesn’t believe in neoliberalism.that was good until Key and Judge got their hands on it.
The solution again is simple.
Abandon neoliberalism.
It used to be better back when the government wasn’t using insurance and all other state services as a cash cow.
The problem is that the government stopped acting as a government and started acting as a business.
“The problem is that the government stopped acting as a government and started acting as a business.”
Thats true enough but there does remain one advantage even so….and thats the government will not declare bankruptcy (or at least not at the drop of a hat) and walk away from any proved liability
You are starting to appreciate the need to rid the country of neoliberalism.
So we didn’t have private banks, law firms and insurance companies before neoliberalism?
Of course we did.
However banks were deregulated then.
You know this, so why are you wasting my time?
I have little time for the rabid defenders of an economic system which will bring about the 6th extinction.
He may know that but I don’t, so please elaboarte.
Here are some sources than answer your question.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deregulation
https://teara.govt.nz/en/banking-and-finance/page-2
Can you cut that RW smartarse stuff solkta?
So make your mind up. Are you talking about more regulation or are you talking about nationalisation?
You obviously have little time for anybody who challenges what you write. Trolls are like that. That you would suggest that I am a defender of neoliberalism just shows how little attention you actually pay.
I cannot be bothered with your right wing nonsense.
There is nothing right wing about asking you what you are talking about. And nothing right wing about me.
Says you. You are of course the voice of reason….and a legend in you’re own mind.
We all defer to your greatness and wonder how in the fuck we can ever be ‘like’ you.
I’m depressed. I WANNA BE LOIK SOLKTA.
Yes we did. We also had state insurance, banks and law firms.
And Public Trust.
These days the public trust just screws little old ladies out of their inheritances.
I know I am one – that is a little old lady who is shortly to be an ex customer of Public Trust to protect what I hope to be able to leave to my chosen beneficiaries.
He may have spent a little too much time in Cuba over the holidays. It’s good he’s coming around though.
If we could renationalise the banks, we would be far less vulnerable to international financial interests.
If you want to know who really runs NZ, follow the money.
And a lot of that money is Chinese.
What you got against Chinese?
Have you Brady’s comments?
No. What have you got against Chinese?
Totalitarian expansionist China, you mean.
Pair of racists
Paranoia much. The comment was about Chinese (probably black) mobey…. not Chinese (as in people as a race or ethnicity). Could just as easily have been Russian or the proceeds from any other expansionist wannabe Empire
More vile racism
What is wrong with the Chinese.
I see you are throwing accustaion at others about being racist (without providing a quote)
If we could renationalise the banks
We’ve always had private banks in New Zealand.
“The government’s ownership of the BNZ, and use of it as its banker, allowed it to become the largest trading bank. It was fully nationalised in 1945.
An 1865 law which established the Post Office Savings Bank also curbed the rights of other savings banks and enabled it to absorb competitors. By the mid-1950s the Post Office Savings Bank controlled around 80% of the personal savings market.”
https://teara.govt.nz/en/banking-and-finance/page-1
We may have always had private banks, but we’ve also had strong historical Government intervention going by the above.
“The government’s ownership of the BNZ, and use of it as its banker, allowed it to become the largest trading bank. It was fully nationalised in 1945.
An 1865 law which established the Post Office Savings Bank also curbed the rights of other savings banks and enabled it to absorb competitors. By the mid-1950s the Post Office Savings Bank controlled around 80% of the personal savings market.”
https://teara.govt.nz/en/banking-and-finance/page-1
Maybe those private banks haven’t always had such a strong influence though..
The issue is New Zealand’s banks set a sector profit record in 2017, their profits rising 7.35 per cent to $5.1 billion.
Most of those banks are not NZ owned banks any more therefore NZ does not get that profit that we would get if it was owned by a NZ company.
Apparently NZ banks are one of the most profitable in the world!
(Possibly a complete lack of government regulation, such as not even requiring the bank to guarantee cash deposits, have helped us achieve this dubious honour).
The now profitable (mostly Australian owned) banks were sold off by our government for a song in the 1980’s and 1990’s, like Bank of New Zealand, etc….
Yes.
DTB
Has listed under Yes the link to –
Which contains the statement –
“A state monopoly can be run at close to cost.”
This applies to more than insurance. It can also be applied to state housing.
It was only National’s cult rigidity that caused it to bring state housing up to market level in stages to make it less noticeable and less of a financial shock to everyone.
Housing could have a base housing cost set at new based on costs. Then the aim should be to recover that cost over many years on an amortised basis, plus an allowance for repairs and maintenance each year, these to be carried out regularly. There is no reason for state housing to be provided free, the people in them may be entitled to government pensions, and out of those they might need rental housing and if it is government housing they would be able to afford it, it might be somewhat cheaper than private, but sufficient for government retrieval of cost plus.
You have listed a lot of businesses now Ed that you think that the government should take over.
Banks, Law firms, insurers.
Any others?
I would certainly ban hate speech by virulent racists as exhibited by you yesterday .
You hit a new low.
Really – Please site any hate speech from me yesterday.
Oh and answer the question.
‘
A message to everyone from the women of the world . . .
Yes change it to man and it becomes even more obvious. LOL LOL
The new style of census seems to have been a disaster. This is what the country is coming to.
I didn’t fill it in. But is sounds like it was designed with extensive consultation from Wellington committees, hence completely out of touch with modern life.
There is a certain irony about worrying about A4 sized mould in a census while not actually understanding the vast amounts of people who don’t even have a home to live in to even be included in the census or even want to be identified, or to calculate the hours of their ‘main’ job when people don’t even have a main job anymore.
Paul Little: Hard to make sense of the Census
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12008618
ECO MAORIs Kiwi Bank ac 389019048573100 Please help me to sort the nz police out
I decided against trying to use PayPal to receive donations .I decided to copy
Thestandards safe way of appealing and receiving donations I set up a Kiwi Bank AC
So he tangata the people of Aoteraoroa New Zealand who support ECO MAORI can use internet banking to make donations and know that there bank accounts are safe after they have made a donation . ECO MAORI will use the donations to SUE the nz police for all the breaches to mine and my Whano Privacy Rights & Human Rights a lot of people can see this has been happening to ECO MAORI when I win my case I will set up a
Charitable Trust and I will pay the money that I used and any extra donations into this Trust account and appeal to anyone else in Aoteraoroa who need help with finance to SUE the nz police for there in justices I will copy bank statements on this site to let he tangata the people know that ECO MAORI has Honest Honorable and transparent intentions to use your hard earned Putea Money. .
Kia Kaha Ka kite ano
Good morning Corin Dan from Q & A on TV1 I’v had to face up to the silver back effect and buy me some reading glasses lol.
Its assume that good fortune shines down on a Labour lead Governments finances the working common persons Government .
What happened to a Government that was all about the wealthy well you already know the answer to that question Te tangata Te tangata Te tangata treating the people humanly and fairly look after Papatunanuku and all her beautiful creatures and good fortune is what you will receive .
shonky gave the wealthy who did not need more money more money tax cuts and were did that come from well the poor common person he put GST up 2. 1/2 % .
shonkys famous words were I will not put up GST .
Business people you will have to use your initiative and management will have to earn the money and become more productive to support a higher wage like OUR Australian cousins do. Pay more money for the common person and Ladys equally then there is more money for business . Ka kite ano P.S I believe there should be quote rs for ladys in management at 25% Kia kaha Eco maori will still voice his opinion when I see anyone taking us down the wrong path
I got mahi kai pai
Here is a industry that would increase OUR gross domestic product by 1 Billion dollars in 3 years it will creat hundreds of jobs for our rual communitys that have had a sharp decline in income in the last 30 years .I have seen this decline with my own eyes .When I was a young man there were Kiwi fruit orchards vineyards all around the East Coast Ngati Purou sheep and Beef farms were all well mantained and employment was a lot higher than it is at the minute.
I can even remember the Helicopter flying Rob Muldoon to Rangitokia or Tiktiki I was on the other side of the Waiapu river at Tikapa this is how much Mana Te Taiwhiti had in those days . This industry will creat income with low impact to the enviroment ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/102044376/medical-marijuana-a-billiondollar-industry-says-budding-exporter-whose-has-staff-with-a-past
This is what happens when one does not learn the culture and does not show respect to that culture the people who are investing in there country lose out big time its time we respected these great people and there culture well thats ECO MAORI view enough said here is a link to Newsroom .
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/03/10/95465/rod-oram-fonterras-big-big-beingmate-problems Ka kite ano P.S its THE MONTH of the wood tiger
If teaching was a male dominated sector of OUR society they would be payed a lot more here is a link showing the disparities of in come between Ladys and men this has to change as the jobs aren’t easier because someone is a lady if fact its harder for Ladys in male dominated industrys.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/10/top-paid-men-women-gender-gap Ka kite ano
Good evening News Hub on TV 3 well I have already written about some of the topics you have covered to night .
The Poverty Bay name change is a topic I would like to write about te tangata will already know my opinion of this the Original name would be nice .
Celebrating the NZ Aotearoa wars will educate all Kiwis about what happened and about OUR Maori culture I hope all Kiwis will be proud of our Maori culture as ECO MAORI is Kia kaha ka kite ano P.S its been a good weekend for our sports ka pai
You have been publishing this a lot recently (and the previous give-a-little and paypal).
How is it going?
Got a lawyer to help you as yet? You know a lot will help on a contingency basis if they think you have a case – which means you wont need the money up front.
I requested paper forms over a week ago (it said it would take upp to a week to get it to me). Still haven’t received it. Sent them a message yesterday.
I will fill it out.
But can see how the many homeless would find it to much hassle to find a way to get access to fill in the form (on or offline).
Seriously! Conservatory?!
It’s part of our +rock star+ economy that the MSM and government tells us we have.
If you only ask the right questions and send it to people who feel comfortable in their conservatory with good internet access and reliable postal service, Wellington gets the results they want.
Hi Carolyn, how were the desperate homeless folks’ census statistics gathered in the past? I don’t think foot soldier collectors toured under bridges and parks after dark.
The majority of New Zealanders considered homeless have letterboxes. I believe we are apparently the worst in the OECD because our statistics include people like me when I was living in luxury at my sister’s place.
Of course we need to address our problems but to do so we need an accurate handle on the problem.
This footage from downtown Los Angeles Christmas Day a few months ago.
For the previous census, statsnz did indeed have people taking forms around known sleeping areas. Dunno about the one just been.
I quite liked the qualitative lifestyle questions in this census. Each one individually sounds a bit silly, but if you’re a person in a dwelling with widespread mould, no conservatory, and you have difficulty cleaning yourself (which points to flexibility and activity levels) then that’s a different picture from someone who’s perfectly fine in a clean, dry home with a conservatory or two.
Yep, there was. Also going round known freedom camping spots to DoC huts. The census has always taken weeks to complete.
If you can’t clean yourself up, how reliable are your other faculties?
Also I think the problem is, the census won’t be an accurate picture because there are serious issues with how the census itself was run and people either did not know about the changes of arbitrary deciding to get people to go onto the Internet rather than using people going door to door as in previous censuses.
It you count the homeless, couch surfers, illegal immigrants, people who can’t or won’t use a computer, people who didn’t know about it, (easy to do if you seldom use mail and don’t watch TV) and non English speakers then you probably have about 25% of people who won’t complete it.
So it’s not gonna provide any answers that are meaningful to the government.
People and paper would have been better like the old days, but these days it’s easier to pretend that forms mean everybody’s needs and there is a zealous willingness to complete them. (Possibly a Wellington curse).
Cleaning requires joint flexibility and/or physical proportions within a certain range. Next time you sit down on the loo, pretend you can’t bend your back without shards of pain, or that you can’t rotate your shoulder to raise your hand up to 45 degrees. As if you’d had a vehicle injury years ago or arthritis were well-entrenched. And even if someone can’t fill in the forms, there’s provision for the forms to be filled in by caregivers (not that a physical disability comes close to meaning one doesn’t have the “faculties” to fill in a form).
The couch surfers get the forms from the people who own the couch. The homeless are sought out by census workers. As are immigrants. After all that, the results are compared with testing exercises and previous results to calculate the estimated resident population (to account for internal migration on the day and some systemic issues).
If this census does indeed miss 25% of the population compared to the one five years ago, it would stand out like a dog’s bollocks. Most of the organisation was done under the nats, so we’ll see, but I reckon you’ll find that they know what dwellings exist and will be a-knocking on any that haven’t filled in the forms.
Ahhh ok, cool, thanks.
Yes, Graeme pointed out an aspect of this new online system that I hadn’t considered. With the paper version they state things like ‘If you answered Yes move on to the next question’. If answering ‘No’ the additional questions were all visible. With the online version, if answering ‘Yes’ we don’t know of the additional questions. I quite like seeing the additional questions but in the name of KISS I can see benefits.
Yes there seemed to be quite a focus on “So what sort of houses are we all living in?” I can see that generating useful stats. Polls and surveys seem to be all over the place and to go forward as best we can, we need to know where we’re at now.
One of the changes with the move online is that the sub-menus and questions are now hidden to unaffected people. In the old days of paper it was all there but you’d be directed to specific sections base on your answer.
One question that had me wondering was the Maori decent one, 3 options yes, no, don’t know. I selected don’t know as I have several people with no past down the tree. I then got directed to a question asking if I knew my iwi. Now that should have been picked up in re-release testing, which brings the whole thing into question. What other errors where in the thing?
They might have been playing it safe in the face of human politics and existential crises.
StatsNZ have written screeds about how to deal with people who put their ethnicity down as “New Zealander”, for example.
“I didn’t fill it in”
Why not?
Do you not have a social and legal obligation to do so?
Social obligation.
You don’t know what that is.
I do which is why I mentioned it.
Are you going to try and start flame wars with personal insults everywhere?
Ah James – never change! You are astonishingly predictable for a human being(?) Thank goodness you’re here to extinguish those ‘flame wars’.
Regarding “personal insults”, I have a simple question about the opening sentence of a comment you made yesterday.
My question: Is this sentence misogynistic, when stripped of its off-colour ‘tit-for-tat’ camouflage?
“I see you true colours, shining through”, so please consider upgrading your camouflage.
If you quote the entire thing it is obvious.
A partial quote is just poor form and dishonest.
Does the quote in this link convey your intent, James, or do you want more?
“As it stands, however, James’ opening (‘shock jock’) sentence is a nasty misogynistic slur”.
yes – Quote the entire post and you will see how obvious it is.
Funny how Ive had to ask twice now – yet you refuse to post it. Could be just be that it would show your post up to be dishonest?
Thank-you fior inviting me to quote your entire comment, I may do that in a future Open Mike.
Your continuing failure to acknowledge your misunderstanding of ‘tit for tat’, which was the only justification you offered for your initial misogynistic slur:
is genuinely puzzling.
Maybe the light will dawn if I being responses to your more objectional ‘twits’ with the following:
The remedy is in your hands. I predict that you will continue to maintain that there is nothing wrong with your initial misogynistic attack on Anne.
Yes, I wonder about the wisdom of publically claiming a refusal to complete the census. This from a recent Stuff article…
“If you don’t, here’s what Stats NZ has to say: “After census day, any household who is yet to complete their census forms will be contacted again by letter. … People who choose not to fill out their census forms can be fined between $50 and $500.”
Yes he does.
I didn’t fill it in because I didn’t know it was on, I have everything automated and use email mostly to keep in touch, therefore seldom check paper mail and I don’t normally watch TV, let alone adds.
Nothing on Facebook and did not notice any adds on The Standard or Daily Blog for it (2nd and 3rd ranking blogs) which are my NZ blog reads, or the guardian (apparently they have 10% NZ readership) therefore it was a pretty bad effort in my view if the census people were trying to reach an online community that does not watch TV or read right wing propaganda on a regular basis.
Apparently you can still fill it in, but I only noticed that because I saw a TV add as I was fast forwarding about the census.
Personally I can see A LOT of problems with their assumptions.
I’m a native English speaker what did they do for non English speakers in particular ones who don’t want to be identified or are visiting.
The other day I posted a link with some tenants who trashed a house. I really can’t see how people like that are going to be reached by this style of census, can you really see people logging onto the internet and filling it out who are in dire straits or who have major issues going on?
As for going around homeless people, didn’t the John Key government laughably go around a few cars, to do that to determine that homeless people did not want any help?
We have just found that our immigration statistic are based on people signing a form on their intentions on entering the country not actually on actual records of who is really here in this country.
Many people have multiple passports and can apparently be deported and just pop back again for years under a new name. No wonder OZ and the UK are getting tired of all our citizens piggy backing into their countries on NZ passports.
These people live on another planet if you think our government amateur attempts are the way to gather data from a widening group of people who live here.
That was a problem. Advertising can only reach those who engage with the advertising medium.
Still, now that you know about it you can ring 0800 CENSUS and organise an access code.
And I can see a lot of problems with your assumptions and they all revolve around your ignorance.
What’s one got to do with the other? Especially when John was actually lying about it.
I can’t see them being reached by any sort of census. Or do you think that census people should endanger their lives by approaching these people?
Would you have preferred John Key’s and National’s preferred idea of dropping the census because they watched the populace enough to already have the data?
Actually, it’s been very successful.
Please note that doing so is a legal requirement and that not doing so may come with a fine.
Actually, it sounds like you’re talking out your arse. Nearly three million people had filled it out online by the end of the 6th so that would be very much inline with modern life.
An A4 sized patch of mould can represent major problems with the house and as we have a housing crisis and houses that are killing people I’d say that it was fairly important.
People who don’t live in houses are being included.
People who put zero hours in their main job are noted as being unemployed. What most people don’t seem to understand is that it’s possible to extrapolate other answers from the data given.
Nearly three million people had filled it out online by the end of the 6th… we have over 4.5 million people here, so roughly a third have not filled it out.
But I sure you are right and it’s considered wildly successful by the bureaucrats having not managed to reach 33% so far.
(Against paper, which was probably a lot more successful).
Change and our reluctance to engage with it gets tougher as we age….The death of Freddie Mercury and John Bonham was the end of decent music. Remember when we repaired electric jugs, irons and taps…ahhhh the good old days.
+111
Which is a lie. Nearly three million people filled it out online but many more had filled it out on paper but they’re going to take a while to come in.
[Citation Needed]
As I said – it’s always taken weeks and months to do the census.
You’re a really good advocate for the census Draco, I like your genuine commitment. The extrapolation of census statistics would do my head in but I could imagine you digging it. Would you entertain a full-time gig there?
Depends upon what role is being offered. There is a reason why I just completed a Bch Comp Sci major programming after all.
Isn’t that an ideal qualification for a handful of very specialised roles in a place like NZ stats?
OK we need a plan Draco. From help desk to an ajar door in that dept?
Is that the ideal outcome?
I’m not taking the piss here Draco, I like you. I’d like to bounce some ideas off you. If it’s ok with you I wonder if an author here is able to send my log-in email address to you?
I might be barking up a disinterested tree, that’s cool too Draco. I still like you. Bastard.
Well done on gaining a useful qualification. I await the announcement of a Govt job (because private sector bad) with a salary just enough to live on (cos profit bad). Alternatively massive voluntary tax payments. Cos lots of tax good.
Bono epitomises everything that is wrong with the liberal elite.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/mar/10/bonos-anti-poverty-campaign-faces-claims-of-harassment
He founded it presumably assisted greatly in funding it but I greatly doubt he is CEO and am certain he wouldn’t be head of HR so why are you deciding to piss on him for the faults of middle management type muppets employed by it?
If you did a modicum of research or had a slight amount of knowledge, you would know Bono has form.
So in this instance – there is zero allegation against Bono, There is nothing showing he was involved in lack of investigations etc. Nothing at all to infer he has done anything wrong at all.
He did however help fund a charity that has done a lot of good and one assumes invested a lot of time and financial support to it in order to help people.
Yet he sums up everything that is wrong with the liberal Elite.
Sorry – you do not make sense.
I would not expect you to understand me.
And I have no intention of explaining myself to you after your overt racism yesterday.
“your overt racism yesterday.”
again – please quote it.
Ok you two,
James, you obviously know what Ed is referring to, so stop being an idiot.
Ed, while I think that James’ comments yesterday were ‘casually’ racist, I don’t see what that has to do with the conversations here. You look like you are flaming, so I suggest you pull your head in as well.
Both of you can take this as a moderator warning. If you can’t play nicely I will take you both out of the sandpit for a time. This petty flaming puts other people off and adds nothing to the debates.
Accusations of racism is Ed’s latest tactic to not engage with anyone who dares to not agree with his every utterance.
I find Ed amusing, albeit a little bit tragic.
As I do you. And I say that given your comments on exploited immigrants who apparently should just learn to ‘move on’ in true H1/H2 pragmatism…after having been bullshiited to by agencies of/or by agencies the NZ state is responsible for.
Munned Stullet….move on man, cut your losses…. stop pushing shit uphill.
Forget the lifetime of earnings you’ve attained…
Nah man…you’re fault you were conned by NZ govt agency approved consiltants….move on….start again ya lazy munter.
Actually @SM, i used to take you at face value till I realised….fill in the rest for yourself
please read my comment to James for a moderation note.
It is. If we didn’t have the rich, and that includes Bono, then we wouldn’t have need of charities to address the problems that the rich create by their simple existence.
One example of Bono’s form.
He is a tax dodger.
‘Inside Bono’s boundless hypocrisy’
‘Bono (and his charity One) earned kudos for insisting countries, corporations and people pay taxes in pursuit of a fairer society. In 2011, Bono, 57, who, according to CNN has an estimated net worth of $590 million, further angered his countrymen when he espoused the values of Ireland’s 12.5 percent corporate tax breaks. He went on the record to claim that these breaks for multi-billion dollar companies had brought Ireland the “only prosperity we’ve ever known.” He had a point, but as the locals noted, Bono wasn’t even giving the country a meager 12.5 percent any longer.’
https://nypost.com/2017/11/11/the-hypocrisy-of-bono-and-his-one-charity/amp/
More evidence of the duplicitous U2 lead singer.
The Irish hate him.
Because he is a tax dodger.
‘But to huge sections of the Irish population, Bono is about as welcome as cold sores and spam email. How can that be?’
‘it’s another issue that really dogs the band: their tax arrangements. In 2006, U2 moved part of their business to the Netherlands, where the tax rate on royalty earnings is more favourable for artists. When you operate on U2’s financial scale, this is a major detail. Ireland was scalded by the global 2008 financial crash; communities were eroded by austerity, while the band’s reputation as “tax dodgers” persisted. As People Before Profit party TD Bríd Smith says: “Bono is seen as part of that cohort of very wealthy people who avoid paying tax in this country but enjoy the fruits of being of this country.”
https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/12/where-the-streets-have-no-statues-why-do-the-irish-hate-u2
Interesting speech from Jeremy Corbyn to Scottish Labour. Starting off with a reference to the Spanish Civil War(!) and using terms like comrade to address the audience, and socialism to describe the party.
The themes of ending austerity, national renewal, a genuine economic alternative and hope for a better society in the future are what appeals to youth.
At 11:30 he starts to talk about Brexit and makes some interesting comments. Labour seems to have accepted Brexit – I don’t think Corbyn was really ever that keen on the United States of Neoliberal Europe anyway – and is seeking to paint the Tories as using Brexit for an exercise in disaster capitalism.
I don’t fancy his chances on getting a decent new customs union deal and retaining the single market with the EU. The idea Britain can regulate the importation of cheap Labour and remain in the customs union and single market seems fanciful to me. I don’t think Corbyn has yet grasped the nature of the European antipathy to the UK.
The EU bureaucracies response to Brexit so far has been arrogant, high handed and rigid. Talking to Europeans in Holland, Spain, Germany and France the public are kinda over the British hating on the EU anyway, and are sad the Brits leaving but over the moaning from them when they were in. The EU technocrats have got nothing to gain in cutting the British a good deal and a lot to lose if they make leaving the march to a centralised, technocrat run Europe look like a viable alternative.
Corbyn’s EU policy hinges on his promise of getting a good deal for Britain. Time will tell! But I support the idea of Britain leaving the EU if the EU will not allow the UK Labour party to carry out socialist reforms.
The EU has already shown it’s dedication to, keeping the power of banks, opposing Labour rights and community Democracy, and the ruthless bankrupting of any country that does not carry out Neo-liberal “reforms”.
The EU’s biggest problem with Britain leaving, is the population of other EU countries seeing what can happen when Socialist “Democracy” returns to Britain, under Corbyn.
Sanctuary it was Dundee’s large contribution of fighters to the Spanish Civil War that he was referring to, because he was speaking in Dundee.
And he kept referring to ‘our movement’ And he praised Ann somebody who got 70% of some vote, and that she was only the second woman to become Rector of some university. I think he was touching base with all the things that Labour Dundee had to be proud of.
I haven’t got time to listen to it properly and indeed i can’t hear clearly even though I have my sound options open fully – my hearing usually pretty good. So thanks for making this available. Others will no doubt get a lot from it.
Some very good interview on Wallace Chapman this morning.
Treasury talking about a more realistic fairer economic system here?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018635582/gabriel-makhlouf-natural-capital-and-national-wellbeing
Gabriel Makhlouf: natural capital and national wellbeing
From Sunday Morning, 8:37 am today
Listen duration 22′ :06″
Recently Treasury announced it plans to measure the wellbeing of the nation as part of its Living Standards Framework. The Secretary to the Treasury, Gabriel Makhlouf, outlines how it will work.
Tourism – Iceland and NZ can high five
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018635213/insight-tourism-saturation-nz-s-lessons-for-iceland (look at great images)
Iceland is drowning in tourists.
Last year more than two million people visited the Scandinavian country, which is home to just 330,000 people living on islands about a third of the size of New Zealand.
Listen 25′ :26″
Locals are cashing in on the tourism boom – but as in New Zealand, it’s proving to be a double-edged sword.
Christianson, a tourist information adviser in the northern city of Akureyri, says Icelanders are becoming increasingly frustrated with having to queue, slow traffic on the ring road that circles the main island, and hearing English rather than Icelandic everywhere they go.
More worryingly, the millions of pairs of feet trampling on areas of natural beauty is unsustainable, while infrastructure is under intense pressure. Sound familiar?
Those who have listened to Sec of Treasury, Gabriel Makhlouf about how they propose to include a measure of standard of living progress or decline in their reports, should read this piece by Chris Trotter on Bill Sutton.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/03/09/still-looking-for-a-compatible-rabbit/
Sutton was one of the keen devotees of Roger Douglas et al – (Roger Douglas, Michael Bassett, Mike Moore and David Lange were Labour Party politicians instrumental in the overthrow of their leader Bill Rowling …) – who went on to introduce us to the dreadful neoiberal, free market that has cost us so much.
Trotter’s essay quotes David Lange, who tried to withdraw from the Gang of Four, actually throwing out Roger which was disputed and reversed by his colleagues. David referred to Bill Sutton needing a brain transplant but that a compatible rabbit couldn’t be found. Trotter calls that a ‘vicious joke’. I think it was a well-deserved jab, and he might well have referred to a ‘compatible rat’.
Sutton is a scientist, and latterly a senior policy analyst for about 11 years. He must be suffering from what many scientists (and also many academics) fall prey to, a profound belief in the superiority of his mind and training and the rightness of his own decisions.
(Sutton has a PhD in biochemistry (Massey University) and worked as a research scientist from 1969 to 1984. After retiring from politics he worked as a senior policy analyst from 1996 to 2007.) Thanks wikipedia
Well, so much for the promises made by the Labour Party last year.
The Manawatu Gorge repair, or replacement is just getting later and later, if it ever happens at all. Even the bypass at Ashurst has gone into limbo.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/102100536/ashhurst-bypass-on-hold-for-foreseeable-future
Prior to the election the then leader was making brave promises.
http://www.labour.org.nz/manawatu_gorge
The candidates were making a variety of claims
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96287936/manawatu-candidates-front-up-with-manawatu-gorge-plans
“Lees-Galloway said with the arrival of MMP, the days of politicians promising and not delivering were over.
“It is a leap of faith and you will have to trust we will do that.”
Now the Ashurst bypass, first promised to be finished by March 2018 hasn’t even started and is merely drifting ever further into the future.
Is there anything, apart from taking lots and lots of selfies with primary school kids that our current lot of no-hopers has managed?
So, that would have been a National Party promise then?
Oh, wait, no – that was NZTA and they’re being held up by the farmers trying to rip off the government.
This is also the type of problem that happens when you use trucks as the main method of transport rather than trains and ships.
Well, if you need the land you can use the Public Works Act, or whatever it might be called these days. That is what is normally done in these circumstances and previous Labour Governments certainly weren’t phased by the idea.
That is of course what you would have to do if you decided to use the new railways of course for transport but I’m sure you know that. I think it is a great deal more likely that the NZTA have been told not to do anything as the current lot of bunnies in the Government can’t find any money.
As for using ships. There is a port at Wellington and another one at Napier of course but I’m not really sure that is the answer to transport between the Wairarapa or Southern Hawke’s Bay and the Manawatu.
I’m afraid you cannot blame the previous National Government for things that the present Government are delaying. Good try but no cigar.
You’re aware of how long and acquisition under the Public Works Act takes.
NZTA are in a war of resistance against this government.
The delays for that one and many others will continue even well after the impending Government Policy Statement.
I’m loving the right wing attack lines, “labour are not delivering”.
As it stands, we have a civil service who are no longer servants of the public, but ideology and preserving the status quo. Labour, NZ1st and the Greens can’t do anything until this pile of crap national left them with is fixed.
Any large ideological shift requires a good old clean out.
9 years under one government inevitably tilts the public service.
Minister Twyford is fully up to the task and aware of what he has to do.
Yes it’s a bit early to say the new government isn’t delivering. However there are some warning signs:
1. The number of Ministers who are in ‘witness protection’ (eg Kelvin Davis https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/03/an_acting_pm_who_cant_talk_on_anything_the_government_is_doing.html, Clare Curran (who has been hammered by Melissa Lee of all people)).
2. The number of Ministers looking like possums in the headlights (Davis again, Curran again, Willie Jackson, Nanaia Mahuta).
3. The post election ‘road to Damascus’ conversion to the TPP (http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1802/S00193/complete-u-turn-by-labour-and-nz-first-on-tpp.htm).
4. Pre election promises that are and were the stuff of Disney world (kiwibuild https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/102113019/Economist-warns-KiwiBuild-is-set-to-disappoint?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter, tree planting…).
5. A PM who gets photographed handing awards to students of a school she is about to close, and at a retreat where allegations of sexual assault have surfaced.
6. An expensive bribe to students that has resulted in a 0% increase in student numbers (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12008838).
7. A Finance Minister who flip flops on the level of government debt) https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/101346887/grant-robertsons-aboutface-on-debt).
8. A foreign buyers ban so poorly conceived it would stop the 5G roll out (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12007127).
And that’s just for starters!
“NZTA are in a war of resistance against this government.”
Hardly surprising considering the makeup of it’s board, https://nzta.govt.nz/about-us/about-the-nz-transport-agency/our-board/ , stacked with contracting insiders. Of course they are going to look after their mates.
V. v. Useless (or Uturn) haven’t heard anyone lamenting her loss as mayor
Can see a few changes coming up there.
Solution.
Fire the board.
But that’s what works Alwyn. Selfies with school kids and endangered species gets us a Green/Labour govt next time round. We’re living a country where the most popular show on TV is Shortland Street.
“Hey Mr Polluter, this is how much you’re getting for the farm that’s been in your family for 7 generations, to hell with your skyrocket valuation. Grab your BBQ and Hi Lux and piss off.”…….Not so much, msm suicide.
“Selfies with school kids and endangered species”. Well that part is correct although the rest of the sentence is unlikely to be true.
The endangered species in this is the Green Party, after all. They aren’t likely to survive the next election. I don’t think they will be missed. When you consider the stuff-up their leader has overseen in the Census (under 3 million people recorded) and one of the candidates for the XX chromosome spot is of for a fortnights holiday in New York their work ethic doesn’t really impress.
Cool. What’s the weather doing around your parts? Where are you at Alwyn?
Alwyn, the quality of your comments is declining 🙁
For your edification on Census stats so far: https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/census-online-total-nears-3-million
Julie Anne Genter, Minister for Women, will lead the New Zealand Government Delegation at the Sixty-Second Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/minister-women-lead-new-zealand-delegation-un-commission-status-women
I fail to see how you can possibly claim that the quality of my comments is declining. The links you include confirm precisely what I said, don’t they?
I said.
1. “Under 3 million people recorded”. Your link says that the total is nearing 3 million. Perfect score I would say.
2. “Genter is off for a fortnights holiday in New York”. Your link says she is off to attend a session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. She left on the 10th. The session lasts from the 12th to the 23rd. I suppose you could say that t is only for 12 days, not a fortnight but I’ll bet she is away for more than 14 days.
http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw62-2018
Spot on for accuracy
That looks like a 100% record to me. Do you ever get close to that?
No, never, my PB is 97% (but that was some time ago) so your 100% hit rate is very impressive indeed.
However, I don’t want to burst your well-deserved jubilant and celebratory mood (i.e. your bubble), I really don’t, but you do realise that so far 3 million people have taken part online, don’t you?
But I agree that this amounts to a major “stuff-up” on behalf of the responsible Minister, James Shaw, and he has no choice but to hand in his resignation to the PM.
It is just not on that Julie Anne Genter goes to New York for at least (!) a whole fortnight for a meeting of only 12 days, all expenses paid for no doubt, and then does SFA. I double your bet that after that meeting she will be in full holiday mode and will have nothing else on her agenda. What’s worse, she might even rest her feet on a table with the excuse that she’s pregnant!! How long will she be away for again? Heads should roll for this crime to the NZ Taxpayer.
It is good that there are still honest people holding this Government to account and in particular that CS faction who call themselves the Green Party – those water melons can never be trusted near power or with NZ Taxpayers money, that’s for sure.
And I do apologise; your latest comment was of the superior quality that we have come to relish here. I mean, you cannot argue with 100% accuracy, can you?
Wow!
You must have been drinking something very potent.
On the other hand I think your comment even exceeds mine in its flamboyance, and I was trying very hard.
You win. Your comment is funnier than mine.
I cannot accept your flattery, Alwyn, it’s embarrassing!
It was mint tea, by the way.
Alwyn, are you complaining that the Labour/NZ First government have not confiscated the required land to speed up construction?
From the linked article it sounds like the delays are caused by NZTA negotiating in good faith to acquire the land.
Do you have any inside knowledge of the situation?
And what does this bypass have to do with promises made about the new road? AFAIK work/planning on the new road has not been delayed.
See my comment to DTB about how you can obtain needed land. It isn’t “confiscation”. You have to pay a fair price and in practice it is the only way that any roads, or railways, can be built.
As far as the new road is concerned the best we are being promised is that we might hear about options by the end of March. “might”.
Hardly what Little was saying last year is it?
“It will be built as quickly as possible, using the powers available to the Government to speed up consenting and planning, and ensuring funding is immediately available.”
My understanding is that compulsory acquisition via the public works act is usually a last resort. Otherwise why is NZTA currently negotiating rather than acquiring?
So you agree that there were no pre election promises regarding the delayed Ashhurst bypass?
Regarding the new road, I have not seen any evidence that that work/planning has been delayed, or that the government is not using all powers available to them. Can you provide any?
This column from Trotter asks a good question:
It is time we took our power back away from the institutions that are designed to keep capitalism going despite it’s obvious failure to provide our society with what it needs.
This disgraceful incident should never have been allowed to occur in the first place …
Woman breaks leg at Middlemore hospital after having epidural for birth! Despite complaining of numbness in her right leg after the birth and having mobility difficulties, the new mother was forced to walk by the duty staff nurse. She fell, causing her right leg to collapse under her, fracturing her tibia!
The resulting bullshit and spin used by the hospital department management/hierarchy is incredibly mind boggling! What’s the matter with using plain simple language, while also acknowledging the accident was the responsibility of the duty nurse and the hospital, something which is blatantly obvious?
It will be interesting to see who is held accountable for this woman’s preventable accident while still in the care of the hospital!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12001186
They will blame the midwife if there is enough fuss. Never the hospital because it’s standard practise to require you to leave within a few hours of giving birth naturally and within 24 hours of a Caesarean. (At least that was what our family was told).
In the old days people stayed for 7 days in a maternity hospital and were taught how to care for the baby and had meals etc provided so you could concentrate on getting well and bonding.
Now to save the government money you bundle your newborn into a carseat within hours and have to go else where.
Possibly that explains our abuse statistics, it’s not exactly a good start for a baby and a Mother or family.
Also unless you went private you would be hard pressed to see a obstetrician in the leadup and during the birth of a baby.
After a few days in a birth centre if you choose to go to one, the after care goes to the charity Plunket because the government does not provide any or see the need to provide any government run after birth care.
My ex just dropped our sprog on a mattress on the lounge floor.
I hope it was a very soft mattress. The Police get a bit suspicious about “dropped” claims if the child is hurt.
(Couldn’t resist that).
Arguably, birth & death are the most traumatic experiences in and of life.
Or as my Doctor would put it.
“You must remember that life is a terminal disease”
My Mother would have been more succinct
“Nobody gets out of here alive”
I’m afraid your doctor was well-conditioned by his professional training at med school because life is a terminal condition, not a disease.
Your mother was 100% accurate; it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree 😉
Is the government no longer providing funding for ‘Well Child’ services ?
Theres a different between part funding a charity which needs to fund raise and accept donations from corporates than a fully funding NZ maternity aftercare service that is focused 100% on the job at hand (not fundraising).
I’d say the neoliberal business model of maternity care is NOT working if you look at the abuse statistics of this county and our poor efforts for children’s care and wellbeing and our dropping ranking is the world on this.
Our birth stats are going down. We aren’t a land of milk and honey and a good place to bring up children any more, except to people who can afford to buy what they need to compensate for NZ basic care, or come from somewhere really crowded, or have been in poverty or a refugee camp.
http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/births/BirthsAndDeaths_HOTPYeDec16.aspx
There were 1,608 fewer births and 429 fewer deaths compared with 2015.
The total fertility rate dropped to a low of 1.87 births per woman, compared with an annual average of about 2.02 from 1980–2015.
The infant mortality rate was 3.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.
(Between 1980 and 1986 we seemed to be below the natural increase, and are beginning to show now a similar trend.)
Our current Government are trying to do something about it.
Look at the leadership being displayed by Ardern and Genter.
Immigration from less fortunate nations can address that.
When I had my kids in the early 80’s I was allowed to stay in the maternity ward for 5 days.
For me, it was crucial, because I got the help that I needed to establish breast-feeding. (Not necessarily an easy or straightforward process.
Sadly several women there switched to bottles because they simply didn’t get the necessary help and advice.
One of my colleagues gave birth at night and they wanted to discharge her before 5am, ffs.
Interesting point about the obs, too. I wonder if there’s an observable socioeconomic bias…
There are many reasons for early mobization post anaesthesia, chiefly prevention of thrombsis, if this woman had died of a pulmonary embolism because she was not encouraged to mobilise it would be the health professional still at fault. In the not too distant past women were bed ridden for days post partum and the died of preventable causes, so whats one broken leg compared to the lives saved.
Oh sounds a bit regimented. What is appropriate for this patient at this particular time. Don’t want people afraid of nurses and hospitals do we, no Nurse Ratched stuff.
Psych nurse (10.2) …
I take on board your comparison with life threatening DVTs. However, it is definitely not satisfactory for a new mother to suffer a fractured leg immediate post partum, through staff failure to recognise a problem existed after receiving epidural anaesthesia. This is something which could have been avoided had the nurse been doing her job as an observant, caring health professional. Negligence is not conducive towards a good start for the new mother or her baby.
During the time I had my two children, it was mandatory for new mothers to rest up, bond with baby and establish good feeding patterns in the maternity hospital, usually for about a week or thereabouts. Most of us mothers were encouraged to move around, at a level that was comfortable for us, but not forced if mobility caused pain or difficulties. Also during that post natal period, the hospital physiotherapist visited, giving appropriate exercise programmes to assist mobility, as well as to prevent DVTs from forming. This system worked quite well for most new mothers and their babies.
Seems these days good, positive, as well as respectful maternity care is non existent. More the pity!
I’d like to see ACC expanded to include sickness – basically turn it into income protection insurance for illness and injury. This could partly be funded by removing the requirement to provide sick leave, and levying employers more on the savings. Any thoughts?
That was the original plan.
Should also cover unemployment.
It is still a tax, but much more palatable when people can see where it is going and why.
Pity we cannot stop right wing Governments, however, from treating it like a cash cow, commercial insurance.
Sick leave can be utilised for other than the worker’s own sickness, no matter what the company allows or is told. It is a safety net for families, though may not be used because of harsh necessity and resentment by the business against those not collapsing at work. My sister was a teacher, very devoted and hard working, and the management of her school were a bit snippy when she needed time off. Don’t think of cutting sick leave is my thought.
I definitely agree that retaining leave of some sort for dependents is essential, but that can be included in the ACC rules.
Craig H
You are so trusting. The ACC rules can be changed, subverted etc. They already are a different beast than when they were started. The things they do to the needy people on their books, and the ones the reject, are not good reading. I think they are reducing costs by putting people’s applications through a computerised system, ie being sorted by robot brains. Some of the humans weren’t so good because the government set pet medical doctors onto them to decide whether they could come in without being bitten, or have to endure a fight. Don’t think ACC is some reliably good organisation to help the community. I think they are something useful because their reserves look good on a balance sheet for the country so we can keep a low interest rate on our borrowing, so we can have some money circulating like a real economy.
The Holidays Act can be changed too if the government of the day decides to. Provided the ACC Act sets the entitlements into legislation rather than regulations, it’s as safe (or not) as any other legislative entitlement.
Too much power in one hands can create misery. Don’t think you quite understand how our government slowly has unwound, and sometimes quickly, legislative entitlements. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Because laughing is helpful. Samantha Bee on the twitter and chief. 7.03 long.
National reshuffle done.
It’s going to be Judith Collins versus Phil Twyford in the transport and urban development portfolios.
He can take her no probs.
But it will be fireworks.
I don’t think he can, I think hes about to find out how difficult the job can really be
Collins couldn’t take a car off an 18 year old yob and I doubt she’ll fare any better against Twyford.
The point wasn’t to see how many cars could be crushed it was to stop the cars being in such way they would be crushed
The yobs cut way down on what they were doing so Jude scored a major win on that point
And shes number 4 with a portfolio that will see her get media attention so any faltering in the polls and Jude can lead National to the promised land so its a win-win-win situation all round (except for Twyford and Labour of course)
Major win my arse.
Much to her embarrassment, the 18 year old yob took Colllins’ ministry on wild goose chase, and won.
The Government, and it’s Minister, Phil Twyford what to build shitloads of houses.. Lots of New Zealanders want shitloads of houses built, fast. The National Party, and it’s aspiring leader, Judith Collins want to stop them doing this.
What could possibly go wrong …..
“The yobs cut way down on what they were doing so Jude scored a major win on that point”
No they didn’t 🙂
It’s what you’d like to think I know but nah we, oops, they, didn’t..
The yobs cut way down on what they were doing
Yeah Right!
What planet are you on again?
Rich and entitled humans torture sentient beings.
For sport.
Disgusting.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12010650
I didn’t open the link but I’m assuming you’re talking about Clarke Gayford
No – Paula Bennett.
Would you use that same sentence to describe Clarke Gayford – New Zealand’s first man of fishing ?
Yes
Tag and release good on her.
Yes so good to torture an animal just for sport.
Not even to eat.
Just for fun.
Good on her.
In fairness I’ve only caught two. We smoked both and fed a ton of people.
I never asked.
Please tell me what the video says.
I’m terribly sorry ED I never realised you were hard of hearing.
This is an interview about the very important rights of animals. Ali G invited animal rights ambassadors to talk with him about how we should treat animals. The guests did their best to explain why it is wrong to perform experiments on animals at home, an important question that was asked was –
“Would you eat a chicken if another chicken would die if you said no!”
I don’t see the relevance to the story about Bennett torturing a sentient being just for fun.
Can you?
Oh Yes, on so very many levels Ed.
Good on you.
Terribly sorry Stunned Mullet but you have been coming on TS long enough to know that we like to have some information about what is going on in your brain, what point it wants to make about what the video contains so we know whether we want to watch it. Is it going to be fun, or informative, or like something that happens in NZ that is worthy of notice etc.
😆
Rich and entitled humans torture sentient beings.
Just count your blessings that cats didn’t come to dominate the planet, mate
They couldn’t be worse than humans…or could they ?
http://www.imghumour.com/assets/Uploads/Cat-Hitler2.jpg
Actually it was dolphins..
i live with 3 cats that make a lie of your statement that they don’t dominate the planet
This weekend I keep going back to this piece on Paul Keating’s latest utterances in the SMH. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/paul-keating-praises-donald-trump-as-surprisingly-good-at-foreign-policy-20180309-p4z3mh.html
What gets me is not just what Keating says, but the conditions that underpin it. It seems as if the “professional politicians” that replaced the old representative ones are inhibited from meaningfully engaging in realpolitik, due to their subservience to corporate and financial interests. The fact is, the whole world did not magically transform into dedicated adherents to the so-called Washington Consensus, and their response has been limited to bullying and cajoling those who have not succumbed: “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen”, they seem to think. Keating refers to this approach as a “lack of strategy” and praises Trump for at least trying.
The last two sentences: Mr Keating said Russia had the power to “obliterate” the US, and urged Mr Trump to maintain a workable relationship with the Kremlin.
“Russia alone has the capacity to obliterate the United States. If you’re a country that lives under the threat of obliteration, you generally should have a policy.”
I wonder if we should campaign to oust David Parker for signing the TPP. He hasn’t kept his promises. It isn’t in the public interest. And most importantly it won’t bring down the coalition. But it will make them think long and hard before shafting New Zealand again.
Wearing it on his sleeve.
Channeling the Romanovs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested Jews and other minorities in Russia, including Tatars and Ukranians, could be to blame for meddling in the US presidential election.
“Maybe they’re not even Russians,” he told NBC News. “Maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-jews-meddling-interfering-us-elections-fbi-investigation-robert-mueller-a8249671.html
Nah that’s fine it’s not racism unless you photoshop his head onto Oprah.
Perhaps tRump has no intention of being voted out.
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts state secretary William Galvin is strongly opposing President Donald Trump’s proposal to dispatch Secret Service agents to polling places during federal elections.
A provision of the Homeland Security reauthorization bill would allow armed Secret Service agents to enter polling locations at the direction of the President. Galvin says he is “horrified that this is even under consideration.”
https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2018/03/10/mass-state-secretary-blasts-trumps-proposal-to-dispatch-secret-service-to-polling-places
Looks like the shining beacon on the hill is out of fuel
Says you. You are of course the voice of reason….and a legend in you’re own mind.
TS …. something in recent times you come to love to hate.
The commenters with such a love of their own arseholes and self-adjuged intelligence. The egos. The dried up old public servants trying to remain relevant as contributors (probably … i was going to mention Paekakariki or Browns Bay …. best not go there or it’ll provoke an Ad-like epistle justifying ilk and neo-lib, or at least neo-lib-lite ideology).
An ability to sympathise rather than empathise….there goes the progressive Chardonnay TVNZ7 leftie.
Time is running out though folks. The game is up…. which is why NZ elected a change. Hopefully the MMP govts participants may soon come to realise what put them there, and why, and what is expected of them.
Dont hold back, tell us what you really think